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Olympics Notebook
AP Photo
Michael Phelps has his eye on eight gold medals in Beijing.
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Published: August 5, 2008
Phelps arrives at Beijing Games
■ Michael Phelps sneaked into Beijing almost unnoticed. He's unlikely to go out that way.
Phelps, the probable star of the Beijing Olympics, avoided hundreds of fans, photographers and reporters yesterday by taking a side door out to a waiting bus while his teammates pushed luggage trolleys through the arrival gate at Beijing's new Terminal 3, a sprawling addition to the city's airport.
Phelps, who's grown a mustache while training in Singapore, eventually was spotted -- in a window seat on the team bus -- by dozens of reporters and photographers. He ignored most of the cameras, glancing in their direction a few times as he adjusted the fit of his baseball cap.
One young Chinese girl said she had waited five hours hoping to get an autograph. She also carried an envelope in her hand, addressed in imperfect English: "To Michael Phelps you have to look at." Asked why she wanted to see Phelps, a friend standing nearby answered for her.
"Because she thinks he's handsome."
Phelps, who won six gold medals four years ago in Athens, is aiming to surpass Mark Spitz's seven-gold effort at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps will compete in eight events in Beijing, three of which are relays.
■ Diana Taurasi scored 21 points, and the U.S. women's basketball team pulled away in the second half last night to defeat Russia 93-58 in the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament.
The U.S. showed flashes of the dominance that have produced three straight Olympics gold medals, getting uncontested shots on offense and containing Russia on defense. Up 17-13 early in the second quarter, the U.S. closed the first half with a 26-6 run that included seven points from Taurasi. The Americans led 43-19 at the break.
Becky Hammon, a South Dakota native, had 10 points for Russia. She was not in the 29-player pool used to select the U.S. team, so she chose another option -- playing for Russia. She competes for a Russian club team during the winter and became a naturalized citizen there. She is allowed to play for Russia in the Olympics because she hasn't played for the United States in any major FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.
■ Usain Bolt's 100-meter record was ratified yesterday by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Bolt, of Jamaica, ran the 100 in 9.72 seconds on May 31 in New York, surpassing Asafa Powell's previous mark of 9.74 seconds.
The IAAF also ratified Dayron Robles' 110 hurdles record (12.87 seconds) and Dire Tune's 1-hour run record (18,517 meters).
■ World record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain, trying to overcome a stress fracture in her left thigh, said she intends to run the Olympics marathon "unless my leg breaks down."
"The aim has always been to start the race," said Radcliffe, who joined her teammates at their training base in Macau yesterday. "Everyday I go out and plan to start the race. I'm getting more and more confident, because every day you run more on it, and it gets stronger."
Radcliffe dropped out of the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games but won the world championship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005. She set the world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds at the London Marathon in 2003.
■ Hanna Ljungberg will be replaced on Sweden's Olympics team because of a hamstring injury, costing the women's soccer tournament its second star. She described the injury as a "cramp" when she first felt pain in her right hamstring two weeks ago.
Also out is American Abby Wambach, who broke her leg last month in a pre-Olympics a warm-up match.
■ The Iraqi Olympic team arrived in China late yesterday, less than a week after the country's ban was reversed.
The International Olympic Committee suspended Iraq in May over reported government interference in the country's national committee.
The decision was reversed last Tuesday, clearing four -- two rowers and two track and field athletes -- of the seven Iraqis who originally qualified for the Olympics.
■ A backup sample taken from fencer Andrea Baldini came back positive for a banned substance, confirming the doping case that cost the Italian medal-hopeful his spot on the Olympic team.
The "B" sample taken during last month's European Championships in Ukraine confirmed the result of the first test, which was positive for the banned diuretic furosemide, the Italian fencing federation said yesterday.
The 22-year-old Baldini, who won silver in the foil at the 2006 and '07 world fencing championships, has denied taking the substance. The diuretic is not considered a doping substance, but a masking agent that can be used to hide other drugs.
The federation requested Friday that the backup sample be analyzed, but also removed Baldini from the Olympic team and replaced him with Andrea Cassara, a double medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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